- Dan Evans
Roasted veg "flower" tart

Tools
Stand mixer helps a lot, or food processor with a dough hook attachment
Rolling pin
Loose bottom pie tin (mine is 24cm)
Blind baking beads, or equivalent. Rice can be used if needed
Ingredients
Pastry (GF)
250g GF plain flour
1x egg yolk
cold water
125g cold butter, small cubes
25g Gruyere, finely grated
Salt
Filling
1x Aubergine
1x Courgette
1x Parsnip
Pesto
1x sweet potato
Olive oil/the oil from sun-dried tomatoes
herbs (basil, oregano, sage)
100g Mascarpone
To serve
Gruyere, grated
Method
Pastry part 1
Put all the flour in a big clean bowl, add the butter cubes and work them into the flour with your finger tips. It will start to come together and resemble breadcrumbs. Combine all the flour and butter together
Add in the cheese and mix well
Add the egg yolk and start to stir it up with a spoon
Add it to a processor set to go pretty slowly
At this point it will be super powdery and will not want to form clumps. Add cold water bit by bit until it starts to clump. Don't over water it though, or over work it. It's a hard balance to find, takes some practice
When all the dough is happy to stick in big lump, wrap it in cling film and stick it in the fridge for about 20 mins min
Now to prep the veg (use a very sharp knife for this)
Get a big pan of heavily salted water on the hob and bring to a good simmer
Think about the veg you have, and the depth of the pie casing. The veg should be taller than the edge by about 5/10mm
Prep the veg so that when cut into slices they will be the correct height
Proceed to cut the veg into ribbons, about 2 to 3mm thickness is ideal
Add the veg to the simmering water, you may need to do each type of veg by itself depending on the size of pot. It's hard to say how long to cook the veg for, depends on lots of factors. What you want to do is soften it, but not too much.
Spoon from the water and let it drain in a colander, leave to cool. Taste to check the flavour, this will alter the oil topping
Pastry part 2
Pastry should be ready to roll now, flour a surface and roll out the pastry. I went for 4mm thick
Grease (butter) the pie tin and then lay the pastry into it. Be careful here to not tear it or over stretch it, or over compress it. All these things lead to inconsistent pastry. Don't worry about trimming it too much
Put it in the fridge and let is chill for about 10 mins
Preheat the oven to 200C
Scrumple some non-stick paper (this make it more flexible) then lay this into the pastry. Add baking beads and oven for 15 mins ish
Remove the baking beads and cook for another 5 mins, until brown and the edge bits have a good snap to them
Assembly
Mix together the pesto, mascarpone, and gruyere together. Spread this across the base of the pie
Next get a slice of each vegetable and make a stack then roll them up, this forms the central "flower" petals. Place this in the middle of the pie on top of the pesto layer
Make another stack of veg (in the same order) and wrap it around the first one. Repeat this until the pie is filled or you have run out of slices
If there is any space left fill it with leftover mashed sweet potato
Make up an oil brush of the oils, salt (salt according to the taste from earlier), herbs and any other seasonings. Use an egg wash brush to cover all the veg
Return it to the oven for 30mins ish, or until the veg is cooked through
Best served hot with some grated gruyere on top and a tangy side salad (and some prosecco)